Subject: WPC Trip Report From: tpwinter@aol.com (TPWinter) Newsgroups: rec.gambling.poker Date: Sun, Jan 27, 2002 3:59 PM Message-ID: <20020127185947.21757.00000690@mb-cm.aol.com> The following is a 2 part trip report. Since a few days have passed, everything is a bit fuzzy. I can only hope that is half as good a a Sgt. Rock trip report. Sgt. Rock is the BEST! I would appreciate any comments. Left Fremont, NE. on Saturday, Jan. 12, 2002 at 4:30 A.M. to catch a 6:15 flight on Delta to Salt Lake and then to Reno. Arrived in Reno at 9:30 or so and after a quick check in went to the tourney area and played a satellite, busted and paid the $540 for the days limit Hold-em event . 173 starters and I busted about 50th or so, can't remember much other than John Reis doing fairly well. John is from Omaha, NE. and a friend. He eventually won it the next day. Next day I played 15-30 and was stuck all day between $200 and $800-could never get going and finally had AA cracked twice with-in 15 minutes and said that's it. Took a walk and signed up for the evening SS, ate and rested. The evenings SS had about 40-50 starters and paid 2 $5100 seats and apprx.. $600 for 3rd. Got good cards and won a seat along with Austin Bryant. We made a deal with the guy with the Nike hat that was featured in Cardplayer a month or so ago that has won many Mirage tournaments etc. Great feeling to win! Saw John Reis and had a beer with him and he told me about his win against "Miami John" I went back home to Nebraska and made reservations using a free United ticket and came back out on Tuesday evening the 22nd. WPC Championship Event Report: Having never played in a really big event, I didn't know what to expect. MY tournament experience is limited to 100 or so smaller buy-in ($30-$60 multiple rebuy events) in the midwest, Orleans events including a couple of final tables in the Sunday night event, some Mirage tournaments,(2nd to S. Rydel in a $220 no-limit) and 7 or 8 $330-$500 Orleans Open events and a couple of the 4 Queens.Also played a couple of WSOP SS's My table consisted of in seat order starting with #1-Matt Lefkowitz (Nice guy), Bruce Cormen, Tony Le, Tim Lyons, Amarillo Slim,(Great guy and a gentleman), Maureen Feduniak,and Brian Halverson. Things started off slow but Slim was in there moving his chips around a lot and so was Matt L., I picked up QQ and Brian calls my raise and flop is with 2 hearts and I have the Q of hearts, turn is a heart and I bet again, maybe $300 and river is a heart and Brian checks and so do I and I pick up the pot. Blinds we're maybe $50-$100. I pick-up AA and raise to $300 and no callers. I pickup 55 (Presto) in the LB or BB and call, with maybe 2 limpers(One of very few hands I ever saw in 7-8 hours where their we're limpers) and flop is 46J and I check and so does everybody else!! Turn is a 3 and I bet $500 and Matt L. thinks and thinks and calls and turn is a card that doesn't help but not an overcard and I bet $500 again and Matt folds! I steal here and there but not as much as Mauureen, Slim and lefkowitz. I beleive Bruce Carmen goes out next and Randy Holland comes and and wins about 5 of the next 20 pots and runs his stack from 6K to 12K or so. Then I get AQ and raise in middle position, I have 6K and Tim Lyons calls in one of the blinds (he had been playing a lot of hands-he has 3K-4K) and flop is AQK, things get fuzzy now but he bets maybe $500 and I raise 1K, not real sure on this but turn is a J-Damn it! and he bets 2K-so I think and think and call and river is a blank and he bets 1K or so-he has $200 left?? and I call and he turns over A5!! Whew! Then I pick upp AA and raise $300 or so and Tony Le raises me 2K or 3K and I move all-in, Tony thinks and calls and turns over QQ! No help and I win a big pot, Tony had about 3K or so. My stack is about 14K or so. I beleive that Chris Bjorin comes in now in the #2 hole and Bob Feduniak comes in also. Lefkowitz, Bjorin and R. Holland are the big players now and are the main players doing the raising. One hand that was interesting was when Slim raises 2K (blinds are $150-$300 now) and Holland makes it like 6K to go and Slim thinks and thinks and shows QQ and folds. and next hand Randy raises Slim's blind again and Slim immediately moves his chips in (Maybe 6-8K-Holland has 14K or so) and Holland thinks and thinks and Slim says something like "I've been stealing and re-stealing for 70 years! and Randy smiles and folds!Then I pick-up JJ and raise 1K, maybe 2 K and Matt L. raises back another 2K and I fold, he later tells me he had QQ! Yikes! I didn't want to get involved with a weak hand like JJ, I still had a lot of time,The last hand before dinner their is maybe 1 limper and Slim and I have KK and raise to 1K and everybody folds. I go to dinner with apprpx. 14K in chips, maybe 15 players left, 160,000 chips in play. After dinner I pick-up QK in LB and raise B. Feduniak 1K or so and he moves in (he is in the BB), he has $2500 or so and I call and he turns over A10 and neither of us helps and I am down to 11k or so, then I pick-up AJ on the button and raise and Chris Bjorin calls with 99 and flop is with a 9, he checks, I bet and he calls, turn is a J and he checks and I bet 1K I think and he checkraises me for another 1K! I am beat! I am beat I say to myself, I have 8K or so now-Shit!!!! and call and he bets $1500 on the river and I think of the hand 3 or 4 hours earlier with Tim Lyons when he had A5 and think maybe he has KJ and call!! My big mistake! I knew I was in trouble and got stubborn and couldn't lay it down. I visited with Bob F. about it and he said that most players fight being able to lay a hand down. DAMN! Only 5K to 6K left, blinds at $150-$300 with a $25 ante! No hands now and Bjorin, Lefkowitz, and Holland are raising every hand, Slim has moved by the way. I pick-up JK and raise Bjorin's blind 1K and he moves all-in and I fold. damn! Dick Turner comes in to my right. I decide that I am going to play and not get blinded down to 2K or so, I want to double up to 8K, not to 4K, so I am looking for any ace a medium pair or KJ, KQ something like that, 11 players left and the only other short stack is BobFfeduniak and he has about the same as me. Anyway I pick-up A8 of diamonds and Dick Turner raises me all-in and I think and think I have a better hand as the big stacks are coming after Feduniak and myself (everybody else has 20K or more) and I call and he turns over 10K and flops a 10! I met a lot of people, famous names, and not so famous names, had a great time and realized that I have a long ways to go. I watched Slim, Matt Lefkowitz, Randy Holland and Chris Bjorin and a few others really move their chips masterfully, they showed very little fear and I thought they played brilliantly! I had AA twice and won a big pot once with them and KK once, and QQ twice so I had some hands, I wasn't card dead, so I can only blame my 11th place finish on lack of skill and especially aggressiveness.It's probably better to get knocked out, than to get to the final table and get a false sense confidence! I learned a lot!!! Feel free to post your comments or e-mail me or whatever. I had a great time! Kudo's to the Reno Hilton staff who did a great job! It was a great tournament! May the flop be with you, Tom Winter Fremont, NE.